187: {Sassy Solo} Overcome Fear and Build Your Brand

Today I'm sharing practical advice for beginners starting their social media journey, addressing common fears and misconceptions, and emphasizing the importance of authenticity and persistence. There are common excuses that I hear as to why you are not starting your personal brand AND/OR marketing your business on social media and in today's episode I'm debunking all of them. 

Transcript

caroline (00:01.172)
All right, today I'm popping off about a subject that I am very passionate about and I get asked this all the time. And so I want to go ahead and just go ahead and address the elephant in the room. And if you're interested in starting a personal brand or growing your business on social media, this podcast is for you. A lot of times I'll meet with clients and they will say, I know social media is free, but it's overwhelming. I don't know what to do, whatever, fill in the blank. And the reality is.

That's just an excuse. I had no freaking clue what I was doing when I started this whole journey online. And so if you're feeling the same way, don't worry. I've been there. I can relate. I know exactly how you feel. And it is uncomfortable when you start something new, whether or not you're promoting yourself as a professional or your business. It's tough because it's like everyone is watching you. All eyes are on you. And I completely relate because that was me three years ago.

But my message to you today is it's okay. We all have to start somewhere. Michael Jordan started somewhere. Tiger Woods started somewhere. You know, maybe not two ideal examples, but you know what I'm saying? Like we all have to start somewhere. So one question I get asked is, you know, I don't know where to start my journey on social media. And a lot of times people, they're just

what their mind and their self is holding themselves back. And I'm here to say, don't let it do that. Yes, it may seem scary at first. Yes, it may seem like, my gosh, I'm spinning wheels. I don't know what I'm doing, but it's okay. Just like anything else, you gotta put the reps in. And the more you do it, the better with that you'll get. So always ask whoever I'm talking to my clients, my friends, whoever there's in this conversation, it's what's holding you back. And often I hear one of four excuses.

And sorry, hard truth. That's all it is, is an excuse. So you can let the excuse hold you back, or you can overcome the excuse and get uncomfortable and start to change your life. So one of the number one things I hear people say is they don't know what to say when it comes to being online, to talking about their personal brand or their business. And I am in the same boat with you. I literally had no clue what I was doing when I started this journey three years ago. I started on Instagram.

caroline (02:23.681)
I scaled a lifestyle brand and then I switched to doing LinkedIn, where I was at the time in a corporate role as a headhunter, as a recruiter, and that was a platform I needed to show up on. So I started talking about things. I wanted to be the expert in the recruiting and headhunting field. And I literally had no clue what I was doing. I had no clue what to say. Everyone was watching me, like my boss, CEO of the company, all my coworkers, all my ex-coworkers.

But that's okay. I knew I was an expert in the field. And so I just started talking about what I knew. And you may be sitting here thinking, like, well, what I do is boring. Or people don't want to hear from me about what I'm doing. And that's completely wrong. They do want to hear from you about what you're doing. Think about how many things we have to outsource in our life. The recruiting industry is a 200 billion with a B industry. Why? Because it's a problem. So

By the time I started this podcast and my online journey, specifically on LinkedIn, I started talking about what I was an expert at. Some things that popped off that were viral, or why don't you why you never accept a counteroffer and stuff like that. Me, for my personality, I actually really like unpopular opinions because I think they push the envelope with people. And it really drives engagement. And as long as the engagement is decent or not disrespectful or rude, then I'll keep it there.

So to overcoming the number one, I don't know what to say, just start talking about what you know. Okay. You are an expert in the field, whatever that looks like for you. And you know what you're doing. So start talking about it. Okay. The number two excuse that I hear from people is: I don't want Susie to from high school to know, see me being online or to see what I'm doing. Or maybe it's your creepy uncle Frank.

You don't want him seeing what you're doing online. And maybe it's an ex-coworker, an ex-boss. Okay. If that is the case, do not let that one person hold you back from your online journey, from promoting yourself and your business online. Go into whatever platform it is that you are connected with that person. Maybe it's Facebook, maybe it's LinkedIn, maybe it's Instagram, and boot them out of your network. Okay. Go in there and either unconnect from them, unfriend them, or block them. They are not gonna get a notice.

caroline (04:45.985)
And there is no reason whatsoever you should be letting that one person from your past or maybe even your present hold you back. Okay. Hard truth, but that's what's up. Number three, I hear a lot. I don't want to look silly or stupid. Okay, back to the Michael Jordan Tiger Woods example. Whenever you start something, you're gonna look stupid. Okay. And that's just through hard truth and the reality. When I started my journey, both on Instagram and on LinkedIn, I looked stupid. Okay. I had no clue what I was doing.

On Instagram, my videos are way too long. If you go way back into my stuff, the audio's not it's just not good. Okay. But I left it there because it's just an example of that was me starting. At that time, we were travel vlogging and no one was doing videos. So I kept the videos. And on LinkedIn too, I kept everything that I did because if you go back and look at my stuff, you can see me in the bare beginning and starting as a beginner.

And we all start somewhere, so it's okay. We're all gonna look stupid and feel silly in the beginning, but it's just like going to the gym, you put the reps in and you get better and better at it. Or just like you're playing a sport, the longer you play it, the more time you put into it, the more you practice, you get better at it. Okay, the number four thing that I hear from people is what I'm doing is not that interesting. And again, I mentioned this in the beginning of this podcast, and I'm reiterating it right now.

Think about how many things that you outsource in your life. Maybe it's you have to hire an attorney for something. Maybe it's you have to, you know, hell, go to the doctor for something that's outsourcing your health, okay? Maybe it's you outsource cleaning in your house or your lawn maintenance. That is you hiring an expert in that field to help you with something because you don't have the time to do it. And so, whatever your trade is, even if you have a product based business.

People don't know about your thing, either your expertise or what you created. And so it's up to you to start talking about it. And again, even if it's the mundane things that you think are boring or silly, people still want to hear about it. The stuff that does the best for my clients that I do for social media marketing is when I actually talk about them and the mundane things. And so this is my encouragement to you to start talking about it. Just start talking about what you're an expert in.

caroline (07:09.781)
And then start paying attention to what people are reacting to. Okay. Pay attention to in the beginning, you're gonna get crickets, by the way. And I did too. And that's okay. That's totally normal. But as you continue to show up online for yourself or your business, you will continue to gain momentum. It's like a snowball, it's a slow roll. Social media is not automatic. You're not gonna go zero to 100. It's not the automatic Amazon effect.

But you will gain traction and over time you will gain trust. And that trust turns into sales, which turns into dollars for your personal brand or your business or your product. And that's when the game changes. So I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you didn't see my post, I posted on LinkedIn. Sorry, I posted on Instagram about this yesterday. My handle is at cPennington55. And so I did a little teaser yesterday popping off about why I was gonna drop for this episode.

And I hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to subscribe and share. I appreciate you more than you know.